As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an Information Handling System (IHS). An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, global communications, etc. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
A hard disk drive (HDD) is a data storage device used for storing and retrieving digital information in an IHS, and a solid-state drive (SSD) is a special type of HDD that uses integrated circuit assemblies as memory to store data persistently. In many situations, SSD technology uses electronic interfaces compatible with traditional HDDs, including, for example, the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe), which is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard. As PCIe SSD technology becomes standardized, these types of devices are becoming more generally known as Non-Volatile Memory express (NVMe) devices.
The inventors hereof have recognized that PCIe SSDs provide much higher read/write performance than conventional HDDs. However, an SSD's power consumption is quite considerable (typically around 25 W). Moreover, an SSD's power consumption for write operations is relatively high compared to read operations. When an SDD device power is throttled, the write performance drops, but not the read performance. Thus, the inventors hereof have developed systems and methods for smartly managing the power provided to PCIe SSDs for achieving the bigger goal of optimizing an IHS' power consumption by dynamically regulating power to these devices depending upon input/output (I/O) workloads.